Maria's Bachelorette in Vegas!

 Maria had an awesome idea to go to Vegas for her bachelorette party.  I couldn't help but agree! Off we went! I got up super early in the morning to catch a flight that had a layover in Denver so I could meet up with Maria and flight with her to Vegas from there.

 However, I arrived to the hotel by myself.  Wahh wahhhh.  Maria kind of sort of accidentally missed her flight.  It was so sad!

 The first four bachelorette partiers partied without Maria and Lindsey until they got there later that night.  We were definitely having fun! Caesars!

 When they finally got there, it was time to party! What a great view from our room!! So cool!

 We walked around and asked around as to where we should go.  Someone told us to check out O'Sheas.

 I couldn't believe they opened O'Sheas back up! How exciting! Beer pong for the masses!

 Hey look! It's the three Lindsey B's!! We had to go by straight up last names since they were all Lindsey B's.  Too funny. 

 Great photo op moment!

 After beer pong, Maria received a marriage proposal! Oh Vegas.

 The next day we hit the pool! These was the last seats by the pool pretty much. A bit too shady but we were able to get some sun during the day.

 Andrew sent me flowers to our hotel room for Mother's Day! #Husbandoftheyear #trynottocrynow

 Someone sent champagne to Maria for her bachelorette party.  She tried to pop it.  We all screamed.  Hilarious.

 Me and the future bride!

 Group pic!!

We brought the champagne with us to Planet Hollywood (in a water bottle like we were in high school or something). 

 Now it's time to see Britney!!

 Isn't she lucky this hollywood giiiirrrrllll???

 Check out that stage!!! Gigantic!

 Some sort of jungle theme going on here. ;) She totally jumped off that tree.  She was attached to wires though. 

 We sat next to this super fans. They all dressed up like a different version of Brit Brit.  They were also in their 30s like us.  They were hilarious.  You can get a red pleather outfit on etsy, by the way.  We asked. :)

 After the show, we hit the craps tables!!

I flew home on Sunday after the whirlwind weekend that was so fun.  I had my flower packed up with me.  No way I was leaving those there. 

What an awesome weekend we had! I miss my Maria so much.  I was so glad I got to spend the weekend with her celebrating her upcoming wedding!

Erin's Bachelorette Party Weekend

I can't believe it has already came and went! Andrew's sister Erin had her bachelorette party this weekend.  We rented a house in Michigan City for the weekend to relax and get some sun.  

We pulled up the house about 7 or 8 and we yelled to the cabbie, "Yo homes, smell ya later!" Ok, not really.  We drove to the house on Friday afternoon.  But we looked at our kingdom, we were finally there! To sit on our throne as the princesses of..... Michigan City.  HA! I can't quit.  But look at this place! So awesome! Four floors? Seriously??  

There was a specially made sign for Erin's arrival at the front door. 

The view was amazeballs, in the word of Giuliana Rancic.  (Quick fun fact that I just found out, we share a birthday.)

 Cait and I shared a bedroom.  It had that same amazing view! Sorry for the crap picture.  You still have some things to work on, iPhone!

I did a quick pano of the 2nd floor.  In the right half of the picture you can't really see but there are four different bedrooms or inlets with a bed. On the left side is the laundry room.  The first floor was actually the garage.  The third floor was the master bedroom and the bedroom Cait and I shared.
 

 The fourth floor was the living area with a large TV.

 The kitchen was enormous! Perfect for entertaining!

 That's all we did. We sat around, ate and talked most of the time.

 Friday night we played some bachelorette games like "Bachelorette Jeopardy".

 This game included a category called "Name That Position".  YEESH! I blurred this picture but it's still greatly offensive.  So sorry, readers.  Also, we still couldn't quite figure out how this one was physically and anatomically possible.  I will say it was called The Overpass.  What to the WHAT? No no no.

 There was also a "Finish the Love Song" category.  We got to hear Erin sing which is always a super fun treat!! :) There were so many laughs in this game.  Lots of drinking too!

Then it was time for presents.  She got a lot of loot! I won't go much into detail on that either.  You don't need to know. :-)

 The next day we walked to the pool via the Beachwalk Resort Community.  White picket fences and colorful houses all the way there.  Such a neat place.

We relaxed by the pool all afternoon.  It was slightly overcast but we were still able to get plenty of sun.

 After our time at the pool, we came back to our house for more eating and drinking.  I chose water and the even more exciting sparkling water to fill my favor cup.

 Once we all got ready, it was time for a photoshoot! Sister pose!

Preggo pose! I was not the only preggo at the party which was super nice.  I had a lovely partner in crime in which to drink all the water and lemonade. 

Indiana pose! The ladies came from all over (Texas, Illinois, Indiana, maybe more?) and the Indiana friends all posed for a picture. 

Erin and her bridesmaids pose! 

 Bride-To-Be Pose!

We played the Guess the Undies game.

 We drank and ate some more (I'm sensing a theme here).

We talked and laughed a LOT.  

 We also watched the Blackhawks before the we went out.

We went to the Shoreline Brewery for dinner and brews.  It was a super cool little place.  They were really confused by a group of 14 girls showing up dressed to the nines.  The waitress asked us if we came from a beauty pageant.  HA! Yes, yes we did.  Of course we did. Erin won! That's why she's wearing the sash!

 They have lots of different beers on tap and one non-alcoholic beer in a bottle, Buckner.  Can you guess which one I drank?

 Lots of people got flights to sample the beers.

We also watched the Blackhawks win a very stressful game.

We had an awesome time that night and all weekend too.  The weekend was a super relaxing, fun, fantastic weekend.  I think I can speak for everyone when I say a good time was had by all.
Only 11 weeks left until Miss Thornburg becomes Mrs. Hartley!

Claire's Bachelorette Party Weekend

This weekend was Claire's bachelorette party in Chicago.  I was really looking forward to this weekend until the weekend arrived.  On Friday night, there was a crazy storm with 70 mph hurricane force winds.  When we got home, we were happy to find no damage but we had no power.  Other people in our neighborhood were not so lucky.

The other problem we had when we got home was that we could not get into our house because we depend on our stupid garage door and do not carry house keys (shut it, I know, DUMB).  We were thankful (and I guess not so thankful) that our basement door was unlocked (how long has that door been unlocked??).  So we were able to get in our house and go to bed.  We were also dumb in the fact that we did not open our windows that night.  So we woke up in our sauna bedroom the next morning still without power. 

On the way to the bachelorette party the next day, even the McDonalds on the toll road didn't have power. Finally united with the bachelorette crew, we make our way to Murphy's before the Cubs game.

See this picture? This is directly after I almost passed out.  For some reason, my body decided I could not wait more than 3 hours between eating.  I start to get nauseous so I decide I need to get something to eat.  Katie sees the look on my face and comes with me, thinking something might be wrong.  I stand in line (where the man is standing in the back of the picture) to get food.  All the sudden, it hits me- Hard.  I start to black out.  My eyes start to go dark where I can only see the peripheral.  I am standing there looking at the guy who is supposed to serve me food and I can't see his face.  I'm holding on to the counter for dear life and my entire ghostly pale face has broken out in sweat.  The guy looks at Katie with that typical bouncer look like, if this chick is drunk or on drugs, she is out of here.  Katie goes, "NOOOO!! She's knocked up. She just needs food."  Who knows what my pupils looked like at that point if I couldn't see the dudes face! I mumbled something about a brat and chips and run away from the counter.  Since I was still blacking out, I couldn't see as I shoved my way through the crowd so eventually I found a trash can and knelt down by it.  Katie brought me the brat and chips and I scarfed that down like it was going to save my life.  Well it did.  I immediately felt a hundred times better and was able to go on with the rest of the day.  But people were still staring uncomfortably at the freakish girl who, for a second there, looked like she might be about to die.  How incredibly embarrassing.  Thank goodness Katie was there to be my medic!! Phew!! Close one!

I told my mom about it and she said, "YOU NEED TO EAT! And you need to sit down and have someone wait on you."  I said, "Well yeah, I know that NOW."  I just didn't think it would hit me so hard and that quickly.

So anyway, shortly after that we headed to the Cubs game.  What a game to attend.  It was, I believe, the worst shut out loss since 1998 or something like that.  It was disastrous.  But we still had fun. 

Hey look! It's Piniella- ella- ella, ay.  Things did not improve after they changed pitchers.

Even the Cubbie Bear is saying "I wouldn't waste my money! Go back home!"

Tim Meadows sang the 7th Inning Stretch.  How perfect.  The Ladiesth Man sang for the Ladiesth Night.

To help fans deal with the devastating loss, a giant macaroni noodle was brought for some over-sized comfort food. 

After the game, Claire decided to hold her own against a group of dedicated Angels fans... 

We quickly became fast friends, one bachelor party and one bachelorette party. 

The Bride to Be was a dancing machine!


After the post-game celebration, we went out to eat at Bucca di Beppos.  Since we were such a large group, they placed us in our own separate room.  We got to sit in the Pope Room.

A little freaky right?

THIS was on our table.  Creepy!

Little naked cherubs adorned the ceiling. 

But Claire was able to sit in the Pope Throne which was pretty cool.  But then the Pope head stared at her all night.

Don't worry.  She's really good at staring contests. 

After Bucca, we went to The Underground.  The Underground is owned by local celebrity Billy Dec.  Apparently, while we were at the club, there were a few celebrities also in attendance.
From his twitter page:

Girls equally went nuts for Channing Tatum ("Step Up") & the Blackhawks team @UndergroundChi last nite! Wonder if Kane picked up some moves?

We missed them! I think they would have loved us!

 I mean, just look at us.  By the way, the rock 'n' rolla chick on the right is the Maid of Honor. She planned the bachelorette party weekend and did a fabulous job.  Go Roman!!

This picture was taken at about one in the morning. I was starting to fall asleep while dancing I was so tired.

Did I mention we had a Reserved Bottle Service table? 

How fun is that? I think it's the "expensive" type of fun, actually.  :)

Anyway, Claire continued to make friends with people all night long.  In the picture below, she told these men that she would be coming up to them all night to tell them random things.  Then she walked away.  She came back 30 seconds later and said, "I own a ladder" and walked away again.  The guy on the right said, "Girl, you funny." 

I also wanted to take a picture just to prove how tall these guys were.  I mean, seriously.  They were like 19 feet tall (Morganism).


On Sunday, we had Claire's Bridal Brunch in the Signature Room of the John Hancock. 

This was the view as we walked into the room...

Amazing!

This is Lake Shore Drive.  I'm so happy my pictures turned out so well.  It was such an amazing view.

I really like this one because of the sky.  It was a gorgeous day.

We could see everything, including the park where Travis and Katie got engaged.  Aww!

 Here is the group picture of everyone at the Brunch.  Too bad the view didn't show up in the picture.

After that, we got to take a Behind-the-Scenes tour of The Signature Room.  It was very cool.  Roman's family owns the Signature Room and Roman is the manager of operations so as we took the tour, employees would scatter like cockroaches when she came through.

The view from the Women's Restroom is amazing.  Scroll down to the 9th item on this list for a little proof.

 Or just look at my pictures.  Whatever you want.

 It was amazing.

Here's the view down from the room where the brunch was held.  Very cool, very scary.

 And finally another one of my favorite pictures from the day.  This is outside the John Hancock.  This is the typical tourist shot but I just loooooove the sky.  It was a perfect color that day.

Roman put together an amazing weekend for Claire.  A great time was had by all, I'm absolutely sure of it.

One final picture for the car lovers in my family...
We followed THIS back to our hotel on Sunday.

That car.  THAT car.  That's an expensive stinking car.  Our cab driver thought half a mil.  The guy was just cruising around Chicago.  Must be nice.  That was the best picture I could get from the back of a fast moving cab.  The price of that car makes my measly little monthly car payment look like nothing.